From the Shadows: Women, Sex, HIV and Violence -- A Press Conference on How Trauma Drives the HIV Epidemic

Washington, D.C. -- In the U.S., 1 out of every 4 people living with HIV is a woman. Further, it is estimated that 30% of women living with HIV experience post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) linked to violence and trauma compared to 5.2% in the general population, according to a recent UCSF meta-analysis of almost 6,000 women living with HIV. How does this impact the HIV epidemic in the United States? New data shows that intimate partner violence is a disproportionately high cause of death for HIV-positive women in the U.S.

On March 30, 2012, President Obama released a memorandum establishing a federal interagency workgroup to address the intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender-related Health Disparities. Now, advocates say, it's time for action.

"Women are dying unnecessarily," says Gina Brown, a woman openly living with HIV and resident of New Orleans, LA, who will speak at Monday's press conference. "They can live with HIV, but are dying from the effects of violence in their homes and communities. HIV policies and programs must prevent and address the effects of gender-based violence that weave through women's lives."

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U.S. Positive Women's Network, a national membership body of women living with HIV, is a proud AIDS 2012 U.S. community partner. We invite you to attend our press conference on Monday, July 23 from 10-10:45 a.m. in the Media Center's Press Conference Room 3.

The press conference will feature breaking new research that will be released at AIDS 2012 on the impact of violence on women's health outcomes, solutions from women openly living with HIV, and a call to action for U.S. federal decision-makers from nationally-recognized advocates on HIV and violence against women. Speakers include:

Kathleen Weber, The CORE Center/Cook County Health and Hospital System and Hektoen Institute of Medicine, and Mardge Cohen, M.D., Principal Investigator, Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) and Professor of Medicine, Rush University, announcing new data on the impact of violence on mortality from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), the largest longitudinal cohort study of women living with and at risk for HIV in the U.S.

Kathleen Griffith, U.S. Positive Women's Network, a woman living with HIV, and member of the national HIV/DV Curriculum Committee for HIV and domestic violence providers.

Gina Brown, U.S. Positive Women's Network, a woman living with HIV.

Edward Machtinger, M.D., UCSF Professor of Medicine, Director of UCSF's Women's HIV Program, and Principal Investigator of two recent studies clarifying the disproportionately high rates of trauma and PTSD faced by HIV-positive women as well as the crucial impact of trauma on key health outcomes and transmission risk behaviors.

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